MAGAZINE

Rihanna Slays Crop Over in Barbados...Again

It's one thing when a celebrity shows up to Coachella dressed to the nines, but it's a whole 'nother story when Rihanna does Crop Over in her home country of Barbados.

Crop Over celebrates the sugar crop being over at the end of the back-breaking summer harvest, and was originally formed as a way to close out the once-thriving sugar industry, when workers would have a final blowout before conserving wages until the next crop. While tourism has replaced sugar as the main source of income on the islands, the Crop Over festival is still celebrated with reckless abandon.

Being from Barbados, Rihanna travels back regularly for the annual festival – and always rages in style. This year, Instagrams of her mermaid-esque, crystal-encrusted outfit and turquoise hair caused a sensation on the internet. You can see why:

A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Aug 7, 2017 at 1:44pm PDT

The look was created by Bajan designer Lauren Austin, who has worked with the music superstar on her festival outfits since 2013. Austin told Vogue.com: “I’ve been designing Crop Over costumes for around seven years...I love how daring Rihanna is — her style is edgy and she isn’t afraid to wear whatever she wants, when she wants."

A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Aug 7, 2017 at 10:28am PDT

Austin continued: "Crop Over used to be celebrated with people wearing simple T-shirts. Over the years however, designers started getting creative. Today, it’s very important to dress up in full costume to really and truly feel the Crop Over vibe. It’s exhilarating, free, and radiant.”

BadGalRiri hasn’t been to Crop Over since 2015; that year, her look made similar waves on the internet, but it was very different from her latest costume. This year, she went as bright and sparkly as possible to make her comeback. Check out the Tweet below for a look at some of her previous Crop Over looks.

When it comes to radical self-expression, Rihanna is a fearless pro – and we love that she does it best while paying homage to her cultural roots. With self-expression being as important in festival culture as it is, we should all look to everyone's favorite bad gal as inspiration.